A vibration motor (or a vibration actuator) is that which communicates, to a user of a communication device or to an operator who is holding any of a variety of electronic devices, the state of an input signal through a vibration, through generating a vibration through an incoming call on a communication device or through the transmission of an alarm on any of a variety of electronic devices, and is built into any of a variety of electronic devices, such as mobile information terminals, including mobile telephones.
Among the various forms of vibration motors that are under development, there are known linear vibration motors that are able to generate relatively large vibrations through linear reciprocating vibrations of a movable element. This linear vibration motor comprises a coil that is disposed within a frame, and a weight, which is vibrated linearly, by a magnet, along a vibrational axis within the frame, through cooperation with a magnet that is surrounded by this coil, and which vibrates together with the magnet along the vibrational axis, where a coil spring is disposed between an end portion of the weight and an inner surface of the frame, so that the elastic force of the coil spring repels the driving force of the coil and the magnet, to cause the movable element, made from the magnet and the weight, to vibrate within the frame (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication 2014-028349).